The operator of Port Columbus International Airport saw its operating revenue reverse two years of declines to reach $77.1 million, up 6 percent from 2009, according to preliminary financial results. The final payment from the resolution of Skybus’ 2008 bankruptcy, along with a 2.1 percent increase in passengers and other factors, helped counteract the lingering effects of the recession.

“I think that certainly overall it was pretty good, and certainly much better than it might have been,” said Chief Operating Officer Rod Borden.

Full financial results for the authority, which also operates Rickenbacker International Airport and Bolton Field, are expected in April.

Growing revenue

Last year was a welcome respite from the turbulence of the previous couple years at Port Columbus, when Skybus’ demise in spring 2008 was followed by oil prices surging to $145 a barrel that summer and the financial crisis that struck in the fall.

The lingering economic slowdown dampened enthusiasm for travel by overwhelmed business and leisure travelers, both reining in their spending.

“Fuel prices were clearly a factor in the extreme financial hardship the airline industry endured during the recession,” Borden said, “both directly by impacting their cost of doing business and indirectly by magnifying the general impact of the recession.”

Passenger traffic plunged 10 percent at the airport in 2008 and fell another 10 percent in 2009, pushing operating revenue down to $73 million in 2009 from $80.3 million in 2008.

Passenger counts and revenue haven’t returned to pre-recession levels, but 2010 marked a step in the right direction, Borden said.

Operating revenue closed the year $5.3 million ahead of the $71.8 million the authority had projected.

“We thought (passenger traffic) last year was maybe going to be flat,” he said. “We were excited to see things moving in the right direction.”

Rebounding passenger traffic was the most significant contributor to the improvement because it increases airline fees, concession income, parking revenue and the air carriers’ cut of rental car fees, Borden said.

Also helping was a $400,000 windfall above what was expected from the failed Skybus, which ultimately paid the authority $4.4 million of the $4.6 million it was seeking out of bankruptcy court, Borden said.

The authority also brought in $1.6 million more than projected in parking fees and $1.5 million more than it expected in concession revenue.

Oil to challenge growth

With passenger growth spurring much of the authority’s revenue gains, Borden said he’s hoping for 2 percent to 3 percent growth in 2011 as the economy gains momentum. But rising fuel prices again may stifle growth, he said.

“When prices go up, that dampens demand,” Borden said.

Oil prices are surging as political strife sweeps the Middle East. The rise could mean higher air fares that again likely would curtail travel plans, he said.

“Airlines had a good year last year – better than they thought they would,” he said. “Just as things were starting to look better for them, fuel prices are escalating again.”

The price of crude topped $100 a barrel in February, up from around $80 a barrel a year earlier and only the second time oil has hit triple digits.

Oil’s price rise in 2008, coupled with the recession, crushed air travel, said Joseph Pezzimenti, an airport analyst for Standard & Poor’s. The potential effects this time remain unclear, he said, but could be mitigated by already soft demand.

“We already went through quite an adjustment with the record fuel prices we experienced in the summer of 2008,” he said. “It is a complex equation.”

A priority at the airport is for officials to do what they can to continue to increase passenger levels, Borden said.

“You don’t sit around and do nothing and hope things get better,” he said. “You do what you can do, and that is advertise, talk it up, visit the airlines and look really hard at where there might be opportunities to increase passengers.”